Perspective Chapter: Fostering Students’ Learning Experiences in Higher Education – Reflections from Student-Centered Pedagogy and Course Transformation

Abstract

Since 2011, we have engaged in professional development, to foster the creation of autonomy supportive, student-centered, learning environments to enhance students’ learning and success. The IMPACT program has been nationally recognized and featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2018 as one of six innovations poised to change classroom culture and the landscape of higher education. The important innovation, discussed in this chapter, is a focus on human potential and motivation to foster students’ (and instructors’) satisfaction of basic psychological needs. Our work is grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), a theory of human motivation which approaches psychological growth, development, integrity, and wellness from an organismic integration perspective. SDT postulates that humans are naturally curious and strive to connect with people, their environment, with people and their environment by satisfying three basic psychological needs; autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy supportive instructors meet students’ basic needs by acknowledging and understanding students’ experiences and perspectives. These instructors create engaging and autonomy supportive learning environments which foster students’ learning experiences across many disciplines, including STEM. In fact, the creation of an autonomy supportive environment regardless of the transformation implemented, is the most important and consistent predictor of the motivational and educational outcomes studied.